Issue 1380

What’s in a number?
Inside No 9 is unusual because it bucks the Netflix idea of cliffhangers and narrative arcs. Actually, it’s just unusual. Gary Ryan asks TV innovators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton about meeting and defying expectations.

Running the numbers – and letters
The end of lockdown will see thousands of devoted runners officially returning to parks. This devotion to the parkrun verges on religious, author Eileen Jones tells Roger Ratcliffe.

‘I didn’t recognise myself anymore’
Many people believe ECT has been consigned to an older, less sensitive age of mental health treatment. But the extreme form of mental health therapy continues to wreck the lives of some patients – and now they’ve joined forces with experts to call for an inquiry into its use. Saskia Murphy reports.

Plus
News, arts and entertainment, Ian Wright’s letter to his younger self, columnist Saskia Murphy, crossword, Sudoku and more.